Derrida: A Biography

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At Cerisy in 1992 for the conference on ‘Crossing Frontiers’. From left to right: Marie-Louise Mallet, Jacques Derrida, Michael ...

Cerisy-la-Salle, summer 2002. 15 July was the birthday of both Daniel Mesguich (fi rst left) and Jacques Derrida. Also visible, ...

May 2002. (© Serge Picard/Agence Vu) ...

Introduction Does a philosopher have a life? Can you write a philosopher’s biography? This was the question raised, in October 1 ...

2 Introduction Within his own works, Derrida himself was not averse, when discussing Walter Benjamin, Paul de Man, and several o ...

Introduction 3 as well as the two fi lms about him, add up to an autobiography that is fragmentary but rich in concrete and some ...

4 Introduction exceptional series of friendships with major writers and philoso- phers, from Louis Althusser to Maurice Blanchot ...

Introduction 5 ally familiarized myself with a handwriting that all of Derrida’s friends knew was diffi cult to decipher, and I ...

6 Introduction More than once, I have felt giddy at the extent and diffi culty of the task on which I had embarked. It probably ...

PART I Jackie 1930–1962 ...

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1 The Negus 1930–1942 For a long time, Derrida’s readers knew nothing of his childhood or youth. At most, they might be aware of ...

10 Jackie 1930–1962 In 1986, in a dialogue with Didier Cahen broadcast on France- Culture (‘Le bon plaisir de Jacques Derrida’), ...

The Negus 1930–1942 11 as Derrida acknowledges, they are belated reconstructions, both fragile and uncertain: ‘I try to recall, ...

12 Jackie 1930–1962 out in Algeria after 1897. The following year, Édouard Drumont, the notorious author of Jewish France, was e ...

The Negus 1930–1942 13 hilly suburbs of Algiers, in a holiday home. Right up until the last minute, his mother refused to break ...

14 Jackie 1930–1962 I vividly remember being really upset, upset at being separated from my family, from my mother, my tears, my ...

The Negus 1930–1942 15 Algeria, it was kept completely out of the picture: the history of France taught to pupils was ‘an incred ...

16 Jackie 1930–1962 stayed for long periods in the rue d’Aurelle-de-Paladines with the Derridas. On Sundays, and during the summ ...